Oil-cup



T. G. 'PIHLFELDT AND F. C. HARTUNIL OIL CUP.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.17.19I8.

1 ,BUQQUfiD 4 Patented May 27, 1919.

" ran sans ease @FFTQE THOMAS G. EIHLFELDT AND FELIX C. HARTUN G, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

OIL-CUP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 27, 1919.

Application filed August 17, 1918. Serial No. 250,406.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, THOMAS Pinni- FELDT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, and FELIX C. HARTUNG, a subject of Great Britain, residing at Oh cago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Oil-Cups, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in oil-cups and will be fully understood from the following specification taken n connection with the accompanying drawlng wh ch illustrates in longitudinal vertical section one formof oil-cup constructed in accordance with the invention.

Referring to this drawing, the numeral 1 designates the body of the cup, th1s body being conveniently formed by drawing a sheet-metal disk to the conformation illustrated. 7

It will be noted that the body of the cup has a small out-turned flange 2 on its upper periphery. The cup-body is adapted to be attached to the apparatus to which the oil is to be supplied by a threaded nipple 3 having a valve seat and upwardly-closing ball check-valve 4 within its bore. pin 5 prevents the check-valve from dropping out of the bore of the nipple. The upper end of the nipple is expanded over the bottom of the cup as illustrated, and the expanded end may be provided with slots or kerfs 6. In the base of the cup above the nipple there is mounted a flow-regulator in the form of a felt disk 7 confined between two disks of wire cloth designated 8.

The body of the cup 1 serves as a cyl nder within which a piston operates. This piston designated 9 is itself cup-shaped, telescoping within the body-cup 1, and like the latter, preferably formed of a drawn piece of sheet-metal. V

The cup-piston 9 is not only flanged but has its upper edge turned downwardly as shown at 10. The down-turned skirt 10 may have a plurality of tongues 11 instruck therefrom, these tongues serving to snap into apertures in and secure a sleeve 12, having an inturned flange 13 at the lower end. The sleeve 12 serves as a protection against the entry of dust and water into thev interior of the cup and also as a stop for limiting the upward movement of the piston, the flange 13 abuttmg the under face of the cup-flange 2 to limit such outward movement of the piston. The base of the piston has secured thereto'a cup-leather 14 of the usual form, which may be fastened by a nut 15 on a hollow stud 16 which passes through an aperture in the bottom of the piston. The stud 16 hasan upwardly-' closing ball check-valve 17 therein, which is normally held to its seat by a spring 17. The bore of the stud is in communication with the interior of the cup-piston by a plurality of radial passages 17 drilled in the head of the stud well above the'lower face thereof. The top of the stud 16 has a hook formed thereon for securing a helical tension spring 18, the top of which is attached to a dome-shaped cover 19 which fits over the upper end of the cup-piston. The piston is normally held at the outer limit of its stroke by a helical compression spring 20 which is confined between the bottom of the piston and the bottom of the cup 1.'

Theoperation of our improved oil-cup is as follows:

In the normal position of the parts the cup-piston 9 will be held at the outer limit of its movement by the spring 20. The cover 19 of the cup-piston is raised by hand and the interior of the piston filled with oil, which oil is prevented from escaping through the passages of the stud 16 by the spring-held check-valve 17. It may here be noted that since the radial passages 17 lie above the base of the cup 9 there will be formed a trap in the bottom of the same which will retain any dirt which may be admixed with the oil.

After the cup has been filled to any desired extent the cover 19 is permitted to spring back into place and now serves as a means for operating the piston. By applying pressure to the cover 19 the piston is driven downwardly within the cylinder 1.

If the pressure on the top of the piston member of the cup is now released, the piston returns to its normal position, and in such movement the oil within the hollow piston opens and flows through the checkvalve 17 a and into the space below the piston. In this return movement of the piston the check-valve 4 in the nipple 3 will close, thus maintaining a partial vacuum which will cause a rapid flow of oil into the space below the piston. By again operating the piston the oil below the same is positively forced out through the felt disk, its place being supplied by a new infiow of oil upon the return stroke of the piston.

The operation above described may be repeated any desired number of times, the piston 9 serving as a pump for forcing oil through the felt disk 7 for thoroughly lubrieating and flushing out the bearing. In the normal operation of the cup the oil contained Within the same feeds bygravit and capillarity through the felt disk 7 at a relatively slow rate, a rate which maybe varied by the proper choice of the felt as to density and by the thickness of the disk. The feed of oil is still further controlled by the partial vacuum created below the piston upon its return stroke and relieved only very slowly by the leakage of air past the piston. In practice we have found that it is possible to obtain a substantially uniform feed of about one drop every two hours by the use of the felt disk 7 of a thickness of {C Under normal conditions, therefore,

I the constant feed of a relatively small amount of oil is effected by the cup, and at intervals the piston is operated to flush out the bearing and to replenish the oil within the cup proper.

While we have in the foregoing described in considerable detail a preferred embodiment of our invention, it will be understood that this is illustrative only and for the purpose of making the invention more clear, as the invention is not limited to the exact construction illustrated, except in so far as the features thereof are included within the terms of the accompanying claims in which it is our intention to claim all novelty inherent in the invention as broadly as is permissible in view of the prior art.

What We claim is:

1. An oil-cup comprising a body portion forming a reservoir for oil, an outlet in the bottonrof said body portion, an oil permeable membrane separating the outlet from the bod portion of the cup, a piston operating Wit iinthe body of the cup to apply pressure to the oil therein for positively forcing it through the said membrane and means for maintaining and supplying oil from behind said piston to said body portion.

2. An oil-cup comprising a body portion forming an oil reservoir, an outlet at the base of said reservoir, an oil permeable membrane separating the body of the cup from the outlet, a cup-shaped piston telescoping within the said body to act as a piston therein, and a check-valve forming communication through the head of the piston.

3. An oil-cu comprising a body portion forming an oi reservoir, an oil permeable disk mounted in the base of the reservoir,

an outlet nipple below the said disk and forming the means for attaching the cup to the device to be lubricated, a cup-shaped sleeve attached to said cup piston and tele scoping the outer wall of sald body portion, resilient means for forcing said'cup piston outwardly and cooperating means on said sleeve and body portion to limit outward movement of said piston.

6. An oil-cup comprising a body portion in the form of a cylindrical cup having an outturned flange, an outlet nipple secured in the base of the cup and forming the means for attaching the same to the device to be lubricated, a permeable capillary disk lying in the base of the cup above the said nipple, a cup-shaped piston telescoping within the body of the cup and having an inwardlyopening check-valve in its head, a skirt carried by said cup-shaped piston and telescoping the outer face, of the cup, and means carried by said skirt for abutting the flange of the cup to limit the outward movement of the piston, a spring lying within the cup and tending to hold the piston at the outer limit of its movement.

THOMAS G. PIHLFELDT. FELIX o. neurone. 

